A Pretense for Pillows
by BeardedBardiche
Summary: Genjuro's set up a training session for Hibiki and Tsubasa, but they won't be using their normal weapons this time...


"Hey, watch out. You don't want to get in the way."

The buzz of the training room's activation alarm blared overhead just as the words left Chris's mouth. For a moment she wondered whether Miku heard her, but her friend looked back from a few steps ahead of her and nodded. She didn't move to step back, however, instead choosing to turn her gaze back upon the pair of girls standing at the center of the room.

Chris almost rolled her eyes. The girl was so much more interested in keeping her eyes on Hibiki today than usual. At least she _probably_ had enough sense not to run into a training exercise. Assuring herself of that, Chris formed her armed gear into her crossbows and readied a full load of arrows.

"Training area set up." The artificial voice of the computer system rung out just as a line lit up directly in front of the tips of Chris's feet. "All training participants within the arena, prepare to start."

In the center of the room, gear active, Hibiki and Tsubasa faced each other, eyes locked. Only a few inches separated them. Chris pointed her crossbows in their general direction. She'd be training just as much as they were, but she wasn't actually going to be in combat. Her role was support for those two's training.

"You'll go until only one person remains! Begin!" Genjuro shouted from behind her. Immediately, the ceiling's many hatches opened up and began dumping white objects into the room by the dozens. Chris took aim and fired. The bolts shot through the air and pierced right through the delicate objects nearest to the two girls. Feathers burst out from each one in an explosion of white and grey before slowly floating to the ground.

"This is so dumb!"

For their part, Hibiki and Tsubasa were already diving away from each other and reaching for the nearest pillow falling down from above. Chris pointed a crossbow at each pillow the two were heading toward and unleashed another volley. The pillow Hibiki was reaching out for disintegrated into feathers. Tsubasa's was untouched, and the girl clad in blue pivoted around and chucked the pillow at Hibiki. Hibiki dodged to the side and returned the favor with a grab and mid-air throw.

"Tch." Chris chastised herself internally. Already she'd missed a shot. She wouldn't hear the end of it from Genjuro after the session. While the two in the arena were training their skills in improvised battle with ever-shifting visibility and "weapon" availability, her own training was to work on her multi-target aim and, at the same time, provide that shifting battlefield for the two. And in the first moments, she missed an easy shot.

"Don't forget, you only get one shot with each pillow, so make it count!" Genjuro yelled out into the arena again. "You get hit once, it's over!" A unified acknowledgement echoed from the middle of the battlefield between the grunts and yells.

Why all this nonsense? Chris blamed herself. Hibiki and Genjuro were watching an action movie of some sort the night before, as usual, and she'd walked by just as the person onscreen ripped open a pillow, sending feathers everywhere. One offhand comment later about not being able to see through the cloud, and here they all were. She couldn't shake the feeling it was all an excuse to re-enact some action movie scene.

In between taking shots at pillows the two combatants were near, Chris launched bolts into pillows high above. One of Genjuro's instructions. The air quickly became saturated with feathers, their random swaying in the air currents turning a clear view one moment into a visual wall the next. Standing on the outside, the feathers proved to be a major issue for Chris. Spotting pillows to snipe from them became harder and harder to manage. She could only imagine what it was like in the middle of that chaos. And yet the two girls in the middle of it still seemed to make every move with purpose, as if they could easily see through them.

Chris had to smirk. Even with a situation as dumb as this, they still gave it their all. She couldn't let herself be shown up. She loaded another volley and focused.

Hibiki launched herself up off the ground and snatched a pillow from the air. She was too far away to have any hope of hitting Tsubasa. Instead, she twisted around and grabbed a second as she kicked off her landing into a dash straight at her opponent. Her opponent that herself was rushing toward her with one pillow in each hand. The falling feathers came together to obscure their vision of each other once again, and Hibiki took the chance. She slid low to the right, coming to a sharp stop at Tsubasa's side. One look at her face told her she'd caught her off-guard. Using the momentum still in her body, she whipped her right arm around for the decisive strike.

"Urya!"

It should've been a sure thing, but just as she swung, she felt the cloth suddenly tear between her fingers. A lance of red light rushed across her vision, between her and Tsubasa. A streak of feathers spilled out along her swing's path. The blue in front of her was blotted out by white and grey.

Hibiki tossed her other pillow up in front of her and ducked, her body leaned back enough to almost touch the ground. A pillow punched through the feathery veil and soared through the empty space her body just vacated. She shifted all her weight to the back, onto her arms now planted firmly in the ground, and kicked into the air. The pillow she tossed up shot out from the kick into the space Tsubasa had occupied, but she only caught a glimpse of her long hair fluttering out of her peripheral vision.

Landing on her feet again, Hibiki snatched another airborne pillow and propelled herself backward. She clutched the pillow tight in her hand. In one motion, she flipped herself around and threw her fist out with the pillow serving as a glove. She _knew_ Tsubasa was right there.

And so she was. A hair's width separated her arm and Tsubasa's body twisting out of the way. Hibiki saw her start a two-handed overhead swing, using her momentum much like how she'd bring down her sword. Hibiki had overextended, and they both knew it.

"Victory is mine, Tachibana!"

Hibiki prepared for the hit that would end the fight, but it did not strike her back like she thought. A flash of white crossed her vision. An impact to Tsubasa's face caused her to stumble.

"Eh?"

Hibiki and Tsubasa both regained their footing and turned to look in the direction the wayward object came from. Holding a pillow in her hand and looking like she'd just put everything into throwing another, Miku took the second pillow into her throwing arm and raised it. Next to her, Chris was agape, no longer firing at the pillows still falling from the ceiling.

"Wh…" Tsubasa started. "Why are you interfer—"

"Direct hit! Tsubasa, you're eliminated!" Genjuro's voice echoed from across the room.

"What? But she's not a part of this exercise!"

"Situational awareness, Tsubasa! She's been in the arena from the very start!"

Hibiki looked down at Miku's feet. Indeed, she was still standing exactly where she had been the entire time. The glowing line on the ground marking the edge of the arena lay behind her.

"Aha! Good job, Miku! Amazing! How did you throw it so far?" Hibiki yelled and rushed over to her friend. "We won thanks to you!"

"Hibiki." Miku's voice was sweetly flat. She tilted her head and smiled. "We?"

"Miku?" Hibiki had been about to jump and embrace Miku, but slowed to a stop in front of her instead. Miku didn't lower her arm.

"Hibiki, where were you last night?"

"Well, I was training, and—"

"We had plans for dinner together." Miku continued to smile. "You didn't come home until really late."

"Ah." A nervous grin formed on Hibiki's face. She put her hand to the back of her head. "Sorry, it was just really engaging training and I was really focu—"

"I was cooking your favorite meals all afternoon." Still, Miku's expression didn't change.

"… Right. Aha…"

A brief pause.

"Situational awareness, Hibiki." Genjuro said in a low voice. Hibiki, recognizing the tone, glanced up at the pillow Miku still gripped in her raised arm.

"Let's go home, Hibiki."

Miku swung her arm down.


End file.
